Proverbs 16:27-30 says,...

Today's verses are Proverbs 16:27-30, which read,

v.27 - A worthless man digs up evil, while his words are like scorching fire.

We have four verses that describe in word pictures the make up a foolish man.  The first is that he digs up evil.  He is looking for the bad and using tools to unearth something to use against others to elevate himself.  It is an everyday activity to look up the dirt on someone else.  Does this sound like our tabloids and some of our television reporting shows?

The worthless man's words burn out of control like a scorching fire.  The fire is out of control and it goes in whatever way the wind blows.  It consumes whatever is in its path.  It is going to need a major intervention to stop it and sometimes even all the firemen and the water planes only slow down the damage that comes from it.  

v.28 - A perverse man spreads strife, and a slanderer separates intimate friends.

The worthless man now is called the perverse man and a slanderer.  It is a practice to not spread good tidings of great joy but rather ill will of personal destruction.  One of the places of attack is the relationships we have with others called friends.  A perverse man and slanderer will attempt to pit friends against one another.  A whisper here and a gossip there about the friend can start to drive a wedge in the relationship that was once solid.  This is a copy cat of what Satan did in the Garden of Eden when he whispered to Eve, "Did God really say that?"  He is a master at putting his foot in the door of our lives when it comes to our relationship with God, the God who calls us friends.  

v.29 - A man of violence entices his neighbor and leads him in a way that is not good.

The worthless man turned perverse and slanderous now is a man of violence.  Extreme measures are very possible when we do not follow after the ways of God.  We seem so shocked when we hear of evil even in our own home town but that is the progression given to us by God laid out in Romans 1.  The phrase, "misery loves company" can apply here also because we look for those who are participating in the sin we are doing or we try to get others to join us so we can ease the guilt that we are not the only one.  Everybody is doing it so there must be some legitimacy to it.  We come up will all kinds of rationales to legitimize our sin and one way is to invite others to join us.  

v.30 - He who winks his eyes does so to devise perverse things; he who compresses his lips brings evil to pass.

We read body language.  A wink can be read that what I am telling you really isn't true or an invitation to something that is not appropriate.  Our lips can be read for more than what they say.  A smirk can say a lot.  The worthless man is not completely hidden of his motives.  God created us to give expression for His glory but it is also protection from one another to help discern truth from falsehood.  Even the "poker face" tells you something that is going on behind the scenes of someone's mind and motive.  God created us to give expression and even that expression can be used of Him to protect His flock when it displays an evil intent to be judged.

Let's wrap this up by putting these thoughts together.  The worthless man uses tools to bring up dirt on others and once unearthed he spreads it like fire.  He becomes a slanderer who will use the information to even pit friend against friend.  He will resort to violence if needed and invite others to join him in his evil.  He will give signals that God created in us to give hints that all is not as it seems to be.  His eyes and his lips will give him away to beware of his plans and his phrases.  Be thankful that tomorrow will paint the picture of a totally different person.  Let's pray.

"Lord, how bad we can be.  How we can dig up dirt on another.  How we can spread it even among friends.  How we can pull others into our sin.  How we can try to hide what our body language reveals.  We are the worthless man if we are not following after You.  May these word pictures come alive in us today so that we live Your way.  Amen."

Pastor Adam